Sierra Club v. United States Securities and Exchange Commission and 16 other new FOIA lawsuits

by Harry Hammitt on October 31st, 2019

We have added 152 documents from 16 FOIA cases filed between October 20, 2019 and October 26, 2019. Note that there can be delays between the date a case is filed and when it shows up on PACER. If there are filings from this period that have yet to be posted on PACER, this FOIA Project list may not be complete.

Click on a case title below to view details for that case, including links to the associated docket and complaint documents.

Sierra Club v. United States Securities and Exchange Commission(filed Oct 24, 2019)
The Sierra Club submitted a FOIA request to the Securities and Exchange Commission for records concerning the agency’s attempts to block shareholder proposals on issues like climate change. The Sierra Club also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and granted Sierra Club’s request for a fee waiver. The agency estimated that there were more than 200,000 potentially responsive emails and estimated it would take more than three years to complete the request. After hearing nothing further from the agency, the Sierra Club filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

International Refugee Assistance Project et al v. Federal Bureau of Investigation et al(filed Oct 21, 2019)
The International Refugee Project, Muslim Advocates, and the ACLU of Northern California submitted FOIA requests to the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State for records concerning investigation and surveillance of refugees living in the United States. The plaintiffs also requested a fee waiver. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests. DHS and the FBI told IRAP that the request was too broad to allow for a search. IRAP appealed those decisions. The Office of Information Policy upheld the FBI’s determination that the request was too broad. After hearing nothing further from the agencies, IRAP, Muslim Advocates, and the ACLU of Northern California filed suit.Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

CITIZENS UNITED v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE(filed Oct 21, 2019)
Citizens United submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Commerce for records concerning communications sent or received by former DOC official Eric Hirschhorn and several other staff members pertaining to Rosemont Capital and other keywords. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but after hearing nothing further from the agency Citizens United filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index

Danny Fabricant v. Department of Justice(filed Oct 22, 2019)
Danny Fabricant, a federal prisoner, submitted 11 FOIA requests to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for records concerning the agency’s investigation that led to his conviction. The agency acknowledged 10 of the requests. Fabricant filed administrative appeals because of the agency’s failure to respond to his requests. The Office of Information Policy rejected his appeals because the agency had not yet made an adverse determination. After hearing nothing further from the agency, Fabricant filed suit.Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Recovery of Costs

CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY v. BUREAU OF SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT et al(filed Oct 22, 2019)
The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a FOIA request to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement for records concerning wells in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region where hydraulic fracturing had been used. CBD also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and denied CBD’s request for a fee waiver. The agency told CBD that its request was put on the complex track for processing and that the cost of records would be approximately $8,000. CBD filed an administrative appeal of the agency’s denial of its fee waiver request. The agency subsequently granted CBD’s fee waiver request. After hearing nothing further from the agency, CBD filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver

AMERICAN OVERSIGHT v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY(filed Oct 22, 2019)
American Oversight submitted eight FOIA requests to the Department of Energy for records concerning the involvement of Secretary Rick Perry and agency officials in trying to pressure Ukraine to conduct an investigation into Hunter Biden. American Oversight also requested expedited processing. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests and denied American Oversight’s requests for expediting processing. After hearing nothing further from the agency pertaining to any of its requests, American Oversight filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION v. BUREAU OF SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT(filed Oct 22, 2019)
Democracy Forward Foundation submitted two FOIA requests to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement for records concerning the grant of waivers to offshore drilling safety requirements. DFF also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the one of the requests. After hearing nothing further from the agency pertaining to either request, DFF filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index

Bonner v. Central Intelligence Agency et al(filed Oct 22, 2019)
Investigative journalist Raymond Bonner submitted a FOIA request to the CIA for records concerning the al Qaeda manual, also known as the Manchester Manual. Bonner also requested expedited processing and a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and denied Bonner’s request for expedited processing. Bonner filed an administrative appeal of the CIA’s denial of his request for expedited processing. The agency upheld it decision to deny his request for expedited processing. Bonner also submitted a FOIA request to the FBI for the al Qaeda manual. The FBI acknowledged receipt of the request and ultimately told Bonner that it found no law enforcement records and that his request would be closed. Bonner filed an administrative appeal of the decision. After hearing nothing further from either agency, Bonner filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver

FIREARMS POLICY FOUNDATION et al v. US DEPARTMENT OF STATE(filed Oct 23, 2019)
The Firearms Policy Foundation submitted a FOIA request to the Department of State for records concerning 3-D printable guns and issues related to that process. FPF submitted a second FOIA request for the same records but for a longer time period. FPF also requested a fee waiver and expedited processing. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests but after hearing nothing further from the agency, FPF filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Litigation – Vaughn index

COLEMAN, JR. v. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY(filed Oct 24, 2019)
James Coleman, co-director of the Wrongful Conviction Clinic at Duke University Law School, submitted a FOIA request to the Department of the Navy for records pertaining to the murder conviction of Rueben Wright, a Marine who Coleman was representing on appeal. Coleman specifically requested video footage from the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office during Wright’s incarceration there. Coleman had a video from OCSO but argued that portions were missing and that Naval Criminal Intelligence Service, which had investigated the murder, had other records relevant to the case. NCIS told Coleman that any gaps in the video footage occurred because the video was motion activated and was not on when no one was around. Coleman filed an administrative appeal and the agency remanded the request for further processing. However, after still being unsatisfied with the agency’s response, Coleman filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

BUZZFEED INC. v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE(filed Oct 24, 2019)
BuzzFeed submitted a FOIA request to the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys for records communications received by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida pertaining to the prosecution of Altaf Khanini, who was convicted for money laundering. EOUSA acknowledged receipt of the request but denied the request entirely under Exemption 6 (invasion of privacy) and Exemption 7(C) (invasion of privacy concerning law enforcement records). BuzzFeed filed an administrative appeal of the denial. The agency upheld the denial. BuzzFeed then filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

The New York Times Company v. Department of Defense et al(filed Oct 24, 2019)
The New York Times submitted FOIA requests to a number of components of the Department of Defense as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for records pertaining to Appendix M of the Army Field Manual, which limits the use of torture in interrogation. The New York Times also requested a fee waiver. The agencies acknowledged receipt of the requests. After hearing nothing further from the agencies, the New York Times filed suit.Issues: Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

AMERICAN CENTER FOR EQUITABLE TREATMENT, INC. v. UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE(filed Oct 25, 2019)
The American Center for Equitable Treatment submitted a FOIA request to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for records concerning PTO’s FOIA logs since 2015 and any materials sent by PTO to the Department of Commerce to compile or generate its statistical data for the agency’s annual FOIA reports. ACET also requested a fee waiver. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request but after hearing nothing further from the agency ACET filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees, Public Interest Fee Waiver

UMASS MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER, INC. et al v. SAUL(filed Oct 25, 2019)
UMass Memorial Medical Center and Albany Medical Center Hospital submitted a FOIA request to the Social Security Administration for records concerning supplemental security income display records for 433 deceased Medicare beneficiaries who had received treatment at Medicare-participating disproportionate hospitals. The agency acknowledged receipt of the request and denied it entirely under Exemption 6 (invasion of privacy). The hospitals filed an administrative appeal of the denial. The agency then changed its mind and decided to process the request if the hospitals could verify that the patients were deceased. After discussions about the scope of the request, the agency indicated that it had misunderstood the request and planned to charge the hospitals $5,000 for processing the request. After the agency failed to provide the records, the records, the hospital filed suit.Issues: Litigation – Attorney’s fees

AMERICAN OVERSIGHT v. OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET(filed Oct 25, 2019)
American Oversight submitted three FOIA requests to OMB for records concerning the decision to hold up funding to Ukraine and the agency’s role in Ukraine policy. American Oversight also requested expedited processing for its requests. The agency acknowledged receipt of the requests but after hearing nothing further from the agency pertaining to any of its requests, American Oversight filed suit.Issues: Adequacy – Search, Expedited processing, Failure to respond within statutory time limit, Litigation – Attorney’s fees

In addition, we have added 1 document from 1 case, with an earlier filing date, that has recently appeared on PACER.